paths to women’s economic empowerment
DESCRIPTION
Discussion PaperTRANSCRIPT
Prepared in support of the Indian Ocean Rim Association’s Women's Economic
Empowerment, with Focus on Tourism & Textiles in the IORA Countries Dialogue Event
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, August 2014
CONTENTS
Paths to women’s economic empowerment — focus on tourism and textiles .............. 2
Purpose statement .......................................................................................................... 2
Why focus on tourism and textiles? .............................................................................. 3
What does the Indian Ocean Rim Association seek to achieve? ................................. 3
What does this paper seek to provide? ......................................................................... 5
Data Snapshots ............................................................................................................. 5
Gender Inequality........................................................................................................... 5
Trade Flows ................................................................................................................... 5
Tourism Activity.............................................................................................................. 6
Gross National Income................................................................................................... 6
Female Labour Force Participation Rates ...................................................................... 6
Synopsis of research into women’s economic empowerment .................................... 6
Benefits .......................................................................................................................... 6
Barriers .......................................................................................................................... 8
Key messages to put to IORA Ministers ........................................................................ 9
Benefiting over one billion women and twenty economies .............................................. 9
What information do IORA Ministers need to help them make decisions? .................... 10
What could IORA countries do to build paths to gender empowerment? ...................... 10
Menu of policy options for delegates ........................................................................... 11
Selected sources ............................................................................................................. 18
TABLES AND FIGURES
Map 1: IORA countries .......................................................................................................... 1
Table 1: IORA by the numbers ............................................................................................ 14
Table 2: Share of textiles in trade in total merchandise by region, 2012 .............................. 15
Table 3: Share of textiles in trade in total manufacturing by region, 2012 ............................ 15
Map 2: Gender Inequality Index .......................................................................................... 16
Map 3: Female Population .................................................................................................. 17
Paths to women’s economic empowerment 2
PATHS TO WOMEN’S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT — FOCUS ON
TOURISM AND TEXTILES
PURPOSE STATEMENT
The purpose of this background note is to assist the deliberations of delegates to the IORA
Dialogue Event to be held in Kuala Lumpur from 17-20 August 2014. The Event is designed
so that delegates craft key messages about the paths to women’s economic empowerment
that can be presented to the IORA Council of Ministers’ meeting in Perth, Australia in
October 2014.
The Event is also designed to build awareness among IORA Member States of women's
economic empowerment issues related the priority Trade and Investment Facilitation area of
IORA's work, and to promote dialogue and exchange among IORA Member States through
panel sessions and presentations involving business networks and women traders from
IORA Member Countries.
To prompt the deliberation process of delegates, this paper seeks to explore several
questions. Why would investing in women’s economic empowerment bring benefits to one
billion women living in the IORA region and how could such investment also benefit twenty
IORA economies? What are some of the ideas that have been developed about paths to
women’s economic development in other regions or through the research of international
organisations? What are the links between women’s economic empowerment and overall
sustainable macroeconomic growth that reduces inequality?
Delegates are asked to consider what ideas about paths resonate with their lived experience
and country context, and which issues they would accord the greatest priority. Each country
in IORA is unique with different cultural, political and economic contexts. Opportunities for
women will be different, and the support necessary for women to take advantage of these
opportunities may look different in each context. Nothing in this paper is meant to be
prescriptive, rather it is designed to present a policy menu of options that delegates can
reflect on, adopt, adapt or reject as they wish.
The definition of women’s economic empowerment used in this paper has two elements.ii
Women’s Economic
Advancement
Economic success and gain for individual
women and groups of women based on
the skills and resources necessary to
compete in markets, plus fair and equal
access to economic institutions
Women’s Power and Agency
The ability of women to take and act on
decisions, and control their own resources
and profits
Paths to women’s economic empowerment 3
WHY FOCUS ON TOURISM AND TEXTILES?
This Dialogue Event will focus on tourism and textiles for several reasons. Both sectors
make significant contributions to economic activity throughout the IORA grouping. Women
are active in both sectors, especially as workers, and have the capacity to scale-up their
participation. Tourism is a service industry and often a source of foreign currency. It is a
focus for IORA due to the common factor of shared access to the Indian Ocean, and the
potential for further cooperation and growth. In 2012, tourism contributed 9% of global
Gross Domestic Product, or a value of over USD6 trillion, and accounted for 255 million jobs.
Over the next ten years this industry is expected to grow by an average of 4% annually,
taking it to 10% of global Gross Domestic Product. By 2022 it is anticipated that travel and
tourism will account for 328 million jobs, or 1 in every 10 jobs on the planet (World Travel
and Tourism, 2012).
Tourism is an industry which has potential to promote the production of local textiles, the
protection of heritage sites, and other goods and services which enhance national identity
and the broader ‘creative economy’. The data presented in Table 1 relates to rates of
international arrivals, but there is also considerable economic contribution made by domestic
tourism.
We can think about textiles in a variety of ways in this forum: as the expression of cultural
and national identity; as part of a production chain that leads to clothing, homewares and
other value-added goods; as textiles for export as part of international trade in merchandise;
or for sale at a local village market stall. Women participate in textiles industries in the IORA
grouping in a wide spectrum of roles: as artisans and artists, workers in garment factories,
fashion designers, owners of small to medium enterprises (SMEs), exporters and importers,
officials and regulators. In 2011, trade in exports of clothing and textiles contributed over
USD706 billion to the global economy. Several IORA countries are major exporters of
textiles and clothing.
WHAT DOES THE INDIAN OCEAN RIM ASSOCIATION SEEK TO ACHIEVE?
Established in 1997, the IORA Ministers agreed to six priority areas of cooperation in 2011.
These are: maritime safety and security, trade and investment facilitation, fisheries
management, disaster risk management, academic and science & technology cooperation,
and tourism and cultural exchanges.
IORA is a region that has at least four distinct attributes:
1. The region holds over 2 billion people, with over a billion women and girls
2. It is a region that has been woven together by trade routes and sea lanes for
hundreds of years
3. It is still the centre of world trade — with the Indian Ocean hosting half the world’s
container ships at any one time
4. It is a site of immense cultural diversity
Paths to women’s economic empowerment 4
The IORA Perth Communiqué 2013 states at paragraph 19:
The empowerment of women and girls in the region is a high priority for IORA
This was because the empowerment of women and girls in the region was identified as an
important cross-cutting issue for two reasons cited on the IORA website:
“…women have been important contributors to the economic and social
development of the countries in the region - a fact that needs to be
acknowledged and strengthened within the Association in the future”.
“Empowering women and girls is regarded as an essential part of the solution to
some of the most serious global challenges of today: food security, poverty
reduction and sustainable development”.
“Education is emphasised as key to women's empowerment. It expands
women's opportunities, enhances their capacity to develop their full potential and
contributes to more equal gender relationships.” iii
IORA has set policy parameters that delegates can consider:
— the development of a framework for integrating gender perspectives in its programmes
and activities and supporting gender analysis and equality in view of scaling up its
efforts to close gender gaps, enhance economic growth and strengthen the
sustainability of development initiatives undertaken within the region.
— initiatives and efforts in the education sector that serve to promote women's education
in the fields of science and technology and arrangements for training programmes for
the empowerment and capacity-building of women in the region should receive
attention within each priority area.
— [Initiatives which] strengthen women's economic capacity through education and
training in business and entrepreneurship.
— Policy reforms aiming at removing barriers to women's ownership and leadership
should be promoted.
— Gender-sensitive data bases and systems may also be developed to consolidate
women's knowledge and experience in sustainable resource use and management.
— IORA may collaborate with other regional and international organisations working in
the area of gender which could provide constructive strategies, insights and
experiences and also allow the harmonisation of policies, approaches, and analytical
tools for gender mainstreaming with these institutions.
— IORA may create a platform for sharing of experiences and strategies on gender
mainstreaming and also for capturing fully the resources and efforts directed at gender
mainstreaming and women's empowerment.
Paths to women’s economic empowerment 5
IORA countries are very diverse, but they have one thing in common. They are seeking
sustainable macroeconomic growth and further cooperation. Women’s economic
participation and agency is one source of macroeconomic growth as per the aims of IORA,
and a source of cultural exchange.
WHAT DOES THIS PAPER SEEK TO PROVIDE?
— data snapshots of some of the key data for IORA countries in relation to gender
equality indicators, trade, tourism and gross national income (GNI)
— a synthesis of current policy approaches to women’s economic empowerment
— benefits of and barriers to women’s economic empowerment and agency, with a focus
on areas of textiles and tourism
— options for key messages on this topic for consideration of delegates
— a menu of policy options for workshop participants to consider, including ideas to be
progressed by the IORA grouping, or individual IORA countries.
Data Snapshots
IORA maps of key areas are provided to delegates to assist them to visualise how diverse
the region really is. Four areas are mapped, showing the variance in gender inequality,
gross national income, trade and tourism.
Gender Inequality
Data and rankings are provided for IORA countries about the overall conditions of life for
women in Table 1 and mapped in Map 2. Gender Inequality Indicators are provided by
reference to data from the United Nations Development Program Human Development
Report. The Gender Inequality Index relies on data from major publicly available databases,
including
— the maternal mortality ratio from the United Nations Maternal Mortality Estimation
Group (MMEIG), the WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA and the World Bank;
— adolescent fertility rates from the UN Department of Economic and Social Affair’s
World Population Prospects;
— educational attainment statistics from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics educational
attainment tables and the Barro-Lee data sets;
— parliamentary representation from the International Parliamentary Union; and
— labour market participation from the International Labour Organization’s Key Indicators
of the Labour Market (KILM) 7th Edition.
The world average score on the GII is 0.463, reflecting a percentage loss in achievement
across the three dimensions due to gender inequality of 46.3 per cent.
Trade Flows
The second column in Table 1 seeks to represent overall trade flows by IORA countries,
based on World Bank data. There are some figures for trade in textiles and clothing, but we
are looking broadly at merchandise trade as a share of GDP (which is the sum of
merchandise exports and imports divided by the value of GDP in 2012 USD).
Paths to women’s economic empowerment 6
We cannot yet present data on trade flows in particular goods or services across the IORA
region, but this is a useful ambition for IORA.
Tourism Activity
The tourism data in Table 1 is sourced from the World Bank and looks at international
arrivals (airports, ports, land borders) in IORA countries in 2010. There is also domestic
tourism not captured by this table.
Gross National Income
Gross national income (Table 1) is a measure most of us are more familiar with, but has a
gender impact because it does not generally include unpaid care work, which is undertaken
mainly by women all around the globe.
Female Labour Force Participation Rates
This is an important area to be concerned with data and evidence, as it is fundamental to
arguments about economic growth for the nation as a whole, so have featured this data out
of the general focus on gender inequality. Map 3 is based on data collected by the World
Bank (World Development Indicators, 2013), and the Key Indicators of the Labour Market
(KILM) 7th Edition.
SYNOPSIS OF RESEARCH INTO WOMEN’S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT
Benefits
Women make up a little over half the world’s population, but their contribution to measured
economic activity, growth, and well-being is considered by mainstream economic institutions
to be below its potential.
There is widespread agreement that focusing on women in development and poverty-
reduction programs had overall benefits for the target community. There is also international
legal commitment through treaty law to the rights and status of women. The Convention for
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) was adopted by the
UN General Assembly in 1979 and now has 187 state parties. All IORA states have signed
except Iran.
The Convention contains a broad definition of discrimination in Article 1, covering both
equality of opportunity (formal equality) and equality of outcome (de facto or substantive
equality):
[D]iscrimination against women violates the principles of equality of rights and
respect for human dignity, is an obstacle to the participation of women, on equal
terms with men, in the political, social, economic and cultural life of their
countries, hampers the growth of the prosperity of society and the family and
makes more difficult the full development of the potentialities of women in the
service of their countries and of humanity.
Paths to women’s economic empowerment 7
The Convention requires states to take legal and other measures to ensure the practical
realisation of the principle of sex equality (Article 2). The Convention covers a broad range
of areas where state parties must work to eliminate discrimination.iv Article 4 allows for
affirmative action, in the form of temporary special measures designed to accelerate de facto
equality such as quotas in employment, education, financial services and politics to
overcome historical barriers.
The major global economic institutions have been providing evidence since 2006 that when
women are able to develop their full labour market potential, there can be significant
macroeconomic gains for the nation (Elborgh-Woytek et al, 2013). Some studies have put
the figure as high as a 27 percent increase for some regions (Aguirre). It is not just the
quantum of growth that interests economists but the quality of the growth. Growing evidence
from the OECD is that high rates of inequality hamper sustainable growth. More inclusive
growth based on women’s participation is more sustainable in the longer term.
The World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development released by the
World Bank urged states to close differences in access to economic opportunities and the
ensuing earnings and productivity gaps between women and men. The Bank advocates
increasing access to child care and early childhood development, and investing in rural
women (World Bank 2012). These are social policy recommendations, but driven by an
economic growth goal.
These World Bank studies usually focus on the potential of female labour force participation.
Between 1980 and 2008, 52 million women joined the labour force, which equates to 52
percent of all workers globally. Men’s participation rates declined only slightly from 82
percent in 1980 to 78 percent in 2008.v The rise in female labour force participation can be
attributed to rising education levels, economic development, anti-discrimination measures &
declining fertility rates.
‘Womenomics’ is posited to have several overall macro benefits:
— Some argue that higher female work force participation would also result in a more
skilled labour force, in view of women’s higher education levels (Steinberg and
Nakane, 2012)
— Studies have shown that women in developing countries are more likely than men to
invest a large proportion of their household income in the education of their children.
According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), women’s work, both paid and
unpaid, may be the single most important poverty-reducing factor in developing
economies (Heintz, 2006)
— The benefits can be very large. Detailed studies have modelled that increasing the
female workforce participation in developed economies such as Australia, using the
same policy measures that our comparator Canada has successfully implemented
(tax, welfare reform and affordable childcare), would add AUD25 billion to Australia’s
gross domestic product, without affecting male employment rates.vi
Significant evidence supports the formal and informal education of women and girls as the
foundation for women’s participation in the formal economy in the longer term. As the
Australian Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women, Senator Michaelia Cash, stated
at the United Nations earlier this year: “Education is the anti-poverty vaccine for women”.vii
Paths to women’s economic empowerment 8
Other benefits of women’s economic empowerment for economic governance need more
research. The employment of women on an equal basis should allow companies to make
better use of the available talent pool, with potential growth implications (Barsh and Yee,
2012). There is evidence (contested) of a positive impact of women’s presence on boards
and in senior management on companies’ performance. Companies employing female
managers are likely to be better positioned to serve consumer markets dominated by women
(OECD 2012).
There might also be better corporate governance (OECD 2012) and risk management
(Coates and Herbert, 2008) from more diversity on boards. As IMF head Christine Lagarde
famously said: “Gender-dominated environments are not good... particularly in the financial
sector where there are too few women.”viii
Barriers
Despite these benefits, female labour force participation has remained lower than male
participation, and in several nations, the rates are in decline.
Some proponents try to focus attention on structural and cultural barriers to participation in
the formal economy, and point out that women’s unpaid work in the care economy is not
valued by mainstream economic theory. The solution they propose is to recognise and value
women’s dual roles as breadwinners and caregivers, and to provide incentives for further
participation in the formal workforce.
— Barriers to women’s economic empowerment include the following:
— Women do the majority of unpaid work especially in areas of care and domestic labour
— When women are employed in paid work, they are overrepresented in the informal
sector with temporary or precarious working arrangements
— Women also face significant wage differentials vis-à-vis their male colleagues
— In many countries, legal, social and cultural barriers to joining the labour market restrict
women’s options for paid work
— Female representation in public and private sector leadership positions and on boards,
as well as rates of female entrepreneurship remains low
— Women are in occupational segregation with high risk during transition to international
markets – women are concentrated in sectors, industries, occupations, and jobs with
lower average productivity
— Women often have lower level education and literacy rates
— Women often do unpaid work rarely gets recognition at a societal level
— Women experience more obstacles in accessing land, financial services, technology,
information, other productive resources, and markets
— Approximately one in three women experience violence in their private and public lives
Trade barriers
Evidence shows that international trade tends to increase the availability of formal but mostly
low-skilled, labour-intensive and low value-added jobs in developing countries, with most of
these jobs in export-oriented having been filled by women in recent decades. Many women
are also involved in informal trade.
Paths to women’s economic empowerment 9
The UN states:
Measures such as access to credit, social safety nets – such as health insurance
– transport, foreign currency exchange, infrastructure for storage of goods,
refrigeration of agricultural commodities and transport facilities, as well as access
to health care, water and sanitation facilities and security services, and training
of customs and police officers about women's rights, would greatly improve
informal traders' activity and enhance their contribution to wealth creation and
poverty reduction. ix
The UN has found that important structural barriers are preventing women to benefit from
trade-orientation; these include: women and girls' limited access to education and skills,
including in cutting-edge educational fields; de jure and de facto discrimination against
women in the control over economic and financial resources, productive assets and access
to financial services; and women’s limited access to new technologies for production,
training, information and marketing.
Trade policy should thus consider how it can enable women to become key actors in those
sectors of the economy that benefit most from trade; it should provide development
pathways for women into more technologically advanced and dynamic sectors of the
economy; and account for the likely effects of widening or closing the gender wage gap and
reducing women’s time poverty.
Tourism barriers
According to the Global Report on Women in Tourism, tourism is one of the world's largest
generators of wealth and employment, and provides a wide range of income-generation
opportunities for women, particularly in developing regions. Women are almost twice as
likely to be employers in tourism as compared to others sectors. Tourism also offers
leadership possibilities, with women accounting for one in five tourism ministers worldwide;
more than in any other branch of government.
Nevertheless, women are often concentrated in low-skill, low-paid and precarious jobs,
typically earn 10% to 15% less than their male counterparts, and tend to perform jobs such
as cooking, cleaning and hospitality (UN Women 2010) which conform to societal roles for
many cultures.
KEY MESSAGES TO PUT TO IORA MINISTERS
Benefiting over one billion women and twenty economies
All existing economic data tells us that tourism is a source of growth, and that trade,
especially in textiles and clothing is a source of growth. Investing in women in these areas is
a source of sustainable economic growth for the whole community, as well as a fulfilment of
individual human rights and social potential for women. There is much that IORA countries
can do in the short term, and with relatively little effort, regulatory reform or cost, to provide
incentives to women to participate for their benefit and the benefit of the whole society.
Paths to women’s economic empowerment 10
IORA countries can acknowledge the broader foundation for women’s economic
empowerment. IORA countries can strive to improve the employment conditions, access
and quality of jobs including in the informal economy and promote family-friendly policies
and workplace practices to ensure that both women and men are able to maximize their
productivity, and have access to social protection benefits. The World Bank has identified
that the common constraints facing many women in participating in the formal economy
include lack of mobility, time due to unpaid care work, skills, exposure to violence, and the
absence of basic legal rights (World Bank, 2012).
What information do IORA Ministers need to help them make decisions?
— Other international organisations, regional groupings and states have found it useful to
conduct gender analysis of macroeconomic policy. Kenya is a good example of such
as approach.x The different impacts of macroeconomic policy on women and men can
be evaluated and incorporated into the design of programs. IORA can cooperate to
enhance the ability of governments to conduct gender analysis.
— The IORA grouping could support member countries in collecting and analysing sex-
disaggregated data, including those related to unpaid care work and informal traders,
and on designing appropriate questionnaires and evaluating the information gathered.
— The IORA grouping could support the development of research from the private or
public sector on gender diversity in public and private-sector leadership positions in the
IORA region, and pool country results.
— The IORA grouping could strengthen public-private collaboration, including through the
exchange and dissemination of best practices domestically and with other IORA
economies to share knowledge on effective strategies, to encourage positive action
which promote women’s participation in decision-making and leadership roles.
— IORA countries or the IORA grouping could promote the development of mechanisms
which encourage transparency and disclosure of gender diversity in the public and
private sectors in IORA countries.
— IORA countries or the IORA grouping could establish a baseline for data on women in
formal trade and/or tourism in IORA countries and pool the results – using a
participatory methodology to explore what women themselves identify as hurdles to
their participation in the formal economy.
What could IORA countries do to build paths to gender empowerment?
— IORA countries could consider the growth potential of women participating in the
formal economy, and the potential of their participation in the creative economy,
including tourism and textile production.
— IORA countries could prioritise employment opportunities for women, especially
building women’s livelihoods through vocational education and skills in the areas of
trade and tourism.
— IORA countries could focus on gender impacts of trade policy, including ensuring
women’s access to cross borders safely and access markets in safety.
— IORA countries could support changes to legislation that encourage women’s role in
their economies through decent work without discrimination, in line with the
Convention to Eliminate all forms of Discrimination against Women.
Paths to women’s economic empowerment 11
— IORA countries could provide incentives and support to women business leaders to
lead change in their countries.
— IORA countries could integrate gender-specific perspectives at the design stage of
policy and programming, especially in relation to textiles and tourism.
— IORA countries could consider reforms which provide more equitable access for
women to assets and services – land, water, technology, innovation and credit,
banking and financial services.
MENU OF POLICY OPTIONS FOR DELEGATES
This menu of options considers what could make a difference to easing the path to more
participation by women in trade and tourism. It considers actions that the IORA grouping
could progress and actions for IORA countries to progress individually.
Women’s Power and Agency Women’s Economic
Advancement
The ability of women to take and act on
decisions, and control their own resources
and profits
Economic success and gain for individual
women and groups of women, based on the
skills and resources necessary to compete
in markets, plus fair and equal access to
economic institutions
Policy frameworks
1. IORA countries could consider a structured
program of policy development and gender-
aware capacity building for cultural and
creative industries, with a focus on textiles, as
part of their ‘creative economy’ plan.
2. IORA countries could develop Gender-
Sensitive Trade Policy, based on UNCTAD
precedents, for example:
— Incorporating gender components in
Aid-for-Trade and other development
assistance mechanisms
— Gender analysis in the configuration of
trade agreements
— Assessing gender-related impacts of a
trade agreement before adoption
Education and training
1. IORA countries could help enhance the
capacities of women entrepreneurs to sell
goods and services in new markets
(domestic and international) and expand
sales in existing markets; including through
state-sponsored IORA festivals, showcases
and trade fairs, encouraging them to export,
participate in local and global supply chains,
and take advantage of government
procurement programs where feasible
2. IORA countries could commit to deliver
functional adult literacy relevant to trade
delivered at workplaces, coupled with more
childcare facilities.
Paths to women’s economic empowerment 12
3. IORA countries could develop Gender-
Aware Tourism Development Strategies, as
part of their ‘creative economy’ plan.
Encourage leadership and take policy
advice from women practitioners
4. Noting that APEC has a Policy Partnership
on Women and the Economy – IORA could
create a more specific version of this, such as
an ‘Expert group on IORA Women in Trade’,
or an ‘Expert group on Women in Tourism’.
Alternatively, each existing national trade
advisory group or tourism council to nominate
a female member to liaise with a new IORA
network. Countries could give their Ministry
for Women a remit to review and propose
reforms to trade and tourism policy.
5. IORA countries could consider appointing
national champions and special IORA envoys
for women’s entrepreneurship (based on
Sweden).
6. The IORA Grouping could create new
awards:
— IORA awards for Women in Business –
Tourism and Trade categories
— IORA Creative Economy Awards
— Awards for government agencies in
IORA who show most initiative in
encouraging women to navigate the
regulatory environment.
Create sharing platforms
7. The IORA Grouping could support
advocacy platforms of women informal
traders for promoting an enabling
environment for their business and access to
better services.
3. IORA countries could support the launch
of an IORA regional women’s
entrepreneurship network or networks to
assist women entrepreneurs in all IORA
economies in better connecting to each
other, and expanding their channels and
opportunities to engage in regional trade
and economic cooperation.
Platforms and Networks
4. IORA countries could encourage women
to set up and participate in various business
networks to form new business partnerships
with both men and women, including
business mentor-protégé relationships.
5. The IORA Grouping could facilitate
contacts, coaching and sharing of
experiences among women entrepreneurs.
6. The IORA Grouping could facilitate the
linkages between women-owned/managed
micro and small enterprises and larger
national or multinational firms. It could link
women engaged in boutique tourism to
international tourism operators.
Regulatory Incentives
7. IORA countries could provide incentives
for women to navigate regulatory and legal
environment relevant to trade and tourism in
their system. For example, IORA countries
could set a voluntary target for women
accessing institutional regulatory regimes
for trade and tourism — such as 20%
increase in women getting relevant permits,
or access to grants, or access to ports, or
gender targets in procurement policies, or
20% more women accessing STEM
training.
Paths to women’s economic empowerment 13
8. IORA countries could support women’s
associations and collective action in the areas
of trade and tourism.
9. IORA countries could support broad-based
effective participation of women and women’s
groups in trade consultations and negotiations
as well as in trade policy-making and related
implementation.
Regional conversations
10. IORA could hold a conversation with
APEC or other regional organisations to
discuss the utility of policy frameworks
dealing with women’s economic
empowerment.
11. The IORA grouping could consider
advocating for the next round of reforms at
the World Trade Organisation to focus on
domestic actions designed to boost women’s
participation in trade, particularly tourism and
trade in textiles.
8. IORA countries could support female
entrepreneurship and set specific programs
to help women overcome business start-up
obstacles and expand their businesses,
including, inter alia, improving their access
to credit and other means of production,
providing training on business strategy,
management, operation, marketing, etc.
making information on trade policies, market
opportunities and regulatory environments
in IORA economies available to women,
and offering relevant support services and
facilities. The IORA grouping could develop
a workshop of this nature that could travel
the region.
9. IORA countries could support the
development of e-commerce, encourage
and train women to make use of ICT for
self-employment and to start and grow their
businesses, and to engage in regional trade
cooperation.
Paths to women’s economic empowerment 14
Table 1: IORA by the numbers
GDP per capita
2012
Tourism –
International
Arrivals 2010
Trade in
Merchandise
WTO 2012
Gender
Inequality
Index 2013
Australia 34,548 5,885,000 33.8 0.115/ rank 2
Bangladesh 1,568 303,000 51.1 0.518/ rank
146
Comoros 980 15,000 54.5 Rank 169
India 3, 203 5,776,000 42.1 0.61/ rank 136
Indonesia 4, 094 7,003,000 43.2 0.494/ rank
121
Iran 10.462 2,938,000 30.2 0.496/ rank 76
Kenya 1,507 1,470,000 55.7 0.608/ rank
145
Madagascar 853 196,000 46 Rank 151
Malaysia 13,672 24,577,000 139 0.256/ rank 64
Mauritius 12,737 935,000 68.6 0.377/ rank 80
Mozambique 861 1,718,000 75.8 0.582/ rank
185
Oman 25,330 1,048,000 103.5 0.34/ rank 84
Seychelles 23,172 175,000 125.6 Rank 46
Singapore 53,591 9,161,000 274.7 0.101/ rank 18
South Africa 9.678 8,074,000 54.9 0.462/ rank
121
Sri Lanka 4,929 654,000 48.1 0.402/ rank 92
Tanzania 1.334 754,000 58.8 0.566/ rank
152
Thailand 7.633 15,936,000 130.4 0.36/ rank 103
United Arab
Emirates 42,293 135.5 0.241/ rank 41
Yemen 2,060 1,025,000 64.1 0.747/ rank
160
Paths to women’s economic empowerment 15
Table 2: Share of textiles in trade in total merchandise by region, 2012
Table 3: Share of textiles in trade in total manufacturing by region, 2012
Paths to women’s economic empowerment 18
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i Produced by CartoGIS, College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University. ii
There is no accepted definition of women’s economic empowerment in international law as yet, and there are a
variety of ways the phrase is used by the UN, the OECD, the World Bank and states. The definition used in this
paper using the two elements of success and power is based on the report by the International Center for
Research on Women by Ann Marie Gollo, Anju Malhotra, Priya Nanda and Rekha Mehra, Understanding and
Measuring Women’s Economic Empowerment: definition, framework and indices (2011, Washington). They state
at p. 4: “A woman is economically empowered when she has both the ability to succeed and advance
economically and the power to make and act on economic decisions.”
iii IORA website “Gender Empowerment’, available at http://www.iora.net/about-us/priority-areas/gender-
empowerment.aspx iv
These provisions include political and public life (Article 7), international organisations (Article 8), education
(Article 10), employment (Article 11), health care (Article 12), financial credit (Article 13b), cultural life (Article
13c), the rural sector (Article 14), the law (Article 15) and marriage (Article 16).
vA visual representation can be seen here: http://go.worldbank.org/9V87N19PJ0
vi Grattan Institute, Game-Changers: Economic reform priorities for Australia, 2012, p. 22.
vii Commission for the Status of Women 58, March 2014.
viii Christine Lagarde: 'There should never be too much testosterone in one room' The Independent, 7 February
2011.
ix UN Womenwatch, Gender Equality & Trade Policy, 2011 available at
www.un.org/womenwatch/feature/trade/gender_equality_and_trade_policy.pdf x Maureen Were and Jane Kiringai, Gender Mainstreaming In Macroeconomic Policies and Poverty Reduction
Strategy in Kenya, Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis, 2004, available at
http://www.sarpn.org/documents/d0000832/index.php.